Friday 13 February 2015

Τσικνοπέμπτη - Fat Thursday and 12 disguised came inside!!!

(Svenska: Osiga torsdagen!)

It´s the carnival period now in Greece for 3 weeks until Sarakosti (the 40 days of fast before Easter) Yesterday was one of the most important days during this period, Tsiknopembti (Τσικνοπέμπτη), something like "Meat fumes Thursday" if you translate it from the Greek. The day is also sometimes called Τσικνοπέφτη, Tsiknopefti, which means something like "Fume falling day".


This day is all about eating...and traditionally it´s meat! Why? Of course to get a little extra flesh on the bones and have some extra fun before the long Easter fast begins...Anyway, that´s the original reason for the whole carnival as such!


Many years ago it was common to dress up in masquerade clothes and go for visits for fun on Tsiknopembti, and then let the people guess who you were...! It was really fun! We did that also a few times.

This picture is from Fat Thursday 1994 on Crete, where we lived then. All these people came to visit us, but they never revealed who they were, and we still don't know!!! The funny thing is that our eldest daughter, Marina, then 2½ years old, didn't have any problem at all - with the unknown clown holding her!

The thing is I don't know what happened with this tradition... it seems to be gone... but maybe it´s better... could be dangerous these days... :(

Wishing you a wonderful day!!!


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